


i have seen things very clearly (that were not true)

by crying_jaybird



Category: DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Wayne (mentioned) - Freeform, M/M, Multiverse Travel, Stalking, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27703663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crying_jaybird/pseuds/crying_jaybird
Summary: Dick seems to be the only one who can see that an alternate version of himself is bad news. He acts accordingly.Meanwhile, fake-Dick inserts himself into Jason's life seamlessly.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Comments: 6
Kudos: 111





	1. Chapter 1

Jason looks up from where he’s reading and opens his mouth, before quickly closing it. He does a double-take, eyes shifting from one Dick to the other back to the first.

It’s uncanny, he thinks, how similar they look to each other. He supposes that’s rather the point, what with them being the same person, but still. 

The Dick who isn’t his (and isn’t the idea of _any_ Dick being _his_ absolutely ridiculous) looks leaner, hungrier. 

Seeing his counterpart creep closer to Jason, the Dick who does belong in this universe wonders if that’s how he looks when he moves. Like a spider or an oil spill.

Not-Dick lifts up the strand of white in Jason’s hair and peers down at it, brow furrowed. 

“What happened here?” 

“It’s not any of your business, Dickhead, but I died.”

“Because of Bruce?”

Jason is a little taken aback by that question. At one point he had thought that, maybe, but now it’s easy to reply, his voice unwavering, “It wasn’t Bruce’s fault, not really.” 

There’s a pause, with other-Dick cocking his head, questioning. 

Jason responds to the unasked inquiry, hoping it’ll relieve some of the tension in the room, “The Joker.” 

Not-Dick moves so he’s standing directly in front of Jason, caging his sitting body in. 

“It concerns you, so of course it’s my business, Little Wing.” He leans down, just a little, and runs the hand already there through Jason’s hair, the movement so smooth and sure of itself that Jason doesn’t even think to stop it. “Gotta figure out who has to die, don’t I? I’ll admit, despite everything, I’m glad it’s not B.”

Jason narrows his eyes. “Die? Who said anything about someone dying?” 

“I did? You don’t have hearing problems, do you kiddo?” 

Jason looks back down at his book and he mutters, “I don’t even know where to start with responding to that. Don’t know who you’re trying to fool, you don’t kill people, Dick. Everyone knows that.” 

The other Dick laughs and it sounds like a knife. Like when you’re chopping up vegetables and it hits the board just right, slicing straight through the middle. 

Probably, there’s other knife related sounds it’s reminiscent of but Jason’s been more of a gun-man himself since his revival, and before that he’d fought with batarangs and before that just his fists. 

All he thinks of is chopping vegetables as he imagines Dick trying to kill someone and hears this terrible sound. It sounds empty, kind of. 

“So everyone keeps trying to tell me.” 

Jason doesn’t want to analyze why his throat feels so dry or why there’s suddenly a lump in it just like he’s going to cry, but he swallows anyway. He suddenly wishes he were at home, that he hadn't taken up Bruce’s offer of staying (“housesitting”, Bruce had said, but they’d both known it wasn’t just that) at the manor while Alfred’s away with his daughter and while he’s overseas, doing god knows what. 

No matter how hard he tries to press down the million questions suddenly in his head, they bubble up regardless. “You kill people in your universe? Does that mean I don’t? I’d figure there’s only room for one black sheep in this family...Or, did I never come back? Actually, wait, I have a better question. How’s your relationship with Bruce? Or actually no, no for real this time, how did it all start?” 

Dick sees not-Dick looking taken aback. 

He hesitates for a second, frowning but then seems to recover and regain his metaphorical balance. He smiles once again. “Oh, my! That was a whole lot. You’ve always been clever though, and I should have expected that to be consistent no matter the universe.” 

Dick keeps observing Jason and this strange, not-quite him speak.

He doesn’t like what he sees. 

Cloying. 

That’s the word he finally settles on. The other him is sweet like cotton candy, like a blood clot. 

He’s only like that around Jason. 

He had snarked with Bruce, for the maybe minute they had talked over the phone when Dick had first run into him. Been rude to Dick, the entire time they’ve known each other. 

Hell, he’d down right ignored Tim even when the young man had tried to engage him directly. 

He’s different around Jason. His movements get soft, like laffy-taffy left in the sun for too long. He looks at him and there’s an unexpected, almost unbearable amount of fondness in his eyes

The terrible thing is, he doesn’t seem all that eager to get back to his own universe. At first he’d expressed a lot of worry about his Jason being alone, which should have been a positive sign. However with how he’d gone about it, even that gave Dick the creeps. It wasn’t a “oh, he’ll worry about where I am” kind of worry. It was more like “oh, Jason won’t be able to function without me”. 

It’s the way he’ll casually mention things, as though they’re not relevant or important, despite the fact they clearly are. Bruce being dead in his universe. Him being Batman in his universe. Jason still being Robin in his universe. 

It’s the way he talks to his own Jason, which he’s only able to do because after a lot of needling Zatarra, she finally gave him a way to do so. 

The way he must know that the privacy he’s being given while doing so is nothing but a facade, and yet he still runs his mouth. The way the other Jason looks at him and talks to him as though he hung the moon and stars just for him. 

“I miss you so much, Dickiebird. What’s the other me like?”

“He’s...well he’s wonderful. He’s Jason Todd, so that’s a given. He’s like a kitten. He called himself a black sheep once when we were talking, but with us he’d be the whitest sheep in the flock. Things are so different here. I miss you, too. Listen, I have to go now, they told me this thing is only gonna reliably keep working if I limit how long we talk for. It’ll be weird not being able to sleep with you tonight. Be safe.”

It’s the way that Dick catches not-Dick talking to _his_ Jason afterwards, saccharine and shameless. Asking if he can spend the night in his bed, “not like that, Little Wing!” when Jason looks at him alarmed. “It’s just...being able to see you asleep and know you’re safe? That’s comforting.” 

Fucking creep.

Most of all, it’s the fact that Jason looks as though he’s really considering letting him do so.


	2. Chapter 2

The situation, as Dick has taken to calling it, continues and continues to spiral.

Somehow, it seems like no one else is concerned about it. Now that not-Dick and Jason are living together (against Dick’s express wishes), Tim and Damian don’t have to interact with _him_ and it honestly seems as though when he’s not present, they just all forget that there’s an intruder in their universe. 

Bruce is coming back soon and hopefully he’ll actually understand, but even that isn’t a sure thing. He doesn’t seem worried enough when he responds to the frantic, short phone calls Dick initiates when he just can’t handle it anymore. 

Ones he’s stopped picking up now, despite the fact that Oracle said she’s sure he’s safe and could do so if he wanted to. 

Dick has taken to bursting into Jason’s apartment, just to see what’s happening. He walked in on not-Dick trying to turn Jason against Bruce, against them all. It makes him feel disgusted. 

Even more so, he feels disgusted when Jason claims he’s misinterpreting it all, despite the fact that it’s so obvious. Jason tries to tell him that he’s being paranoid, that there’s nothing going on and that not-Dick has never done anything inappropriate. That he’s creepy sometimes, but not in a malicious way. 

He even tries to say that it’s mostly Dick who’s being unnerving and overinvested, that he should be out being Batman and taking care of Damian and not stalking him all the time. 

He says that last part like a joke. 

_Good_ , Dick thinks. That means he doesn’t know. 

Clearly, Jason has fallen under the not-Dick’s charms and can’t be trusted in regards to being aware of what’s happening, not fully. Not in a way that makes him an ally against this man, who Dick is more and more sure everyday must be evil. 

It’s not his fault. 

Dick knows that he can be charismatic and powerful and all those other things but it’s disenchanting to see it all happening in real time. 

Jason deserves better. Deserves to be with someone like Roy or Kori. Someone who’ll care for him, not try to manipulate him away from his family and everyone who loves him. 

Oddly enough, even thinking about Roy or Kori, people Dick trusts fully, being with Jason in a romantic context brings a sick feeling to Dick’s stomach.

Really, Jason should just be with someone like the real Dick. Someone whose intentions Dick knows and doesn’t have to fret about. 

Jason’s even started sometimes patrolling with not-Dick now, which Dick absolutely can’t stand. 

He tags along to make sure that nothing too terrible can happen. He can tell that he’s an unwelcome presence, that Jason would rather it be just him and the imposter. 

It feels like a rejection and that pisses him off more than anything. 

Dick hates all this so much. He wants this freak out of _his_ universe. Away from _his_ brother. 

If anyone’s going to get to be with Jason- to know that he despises being barefoot and that being rendered mute is one of his largest fears- it should be him. 

He shouldn’t have to listen in on his little brother and a him from a different universe to know those things.


End file.
